Soldier’s lies unravel after he kills himself

Brenden Teetsell, left, and Eric Bufford in July 2006. The two met at a Christian youth group years ago, and Bufford said he would remember Teetsell "for what he was."


Soldier’s lies unravel after he kills himself
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, February 24, 2008

HEIDELBERG, Germany — Spc. Brenden Teetsell stood out. He was 6-foot-6 — but it was more than that. He was talkative, enthusiastic, smart and likable.

But Teetsell, it turned out, was also deeply troubled.

The 20-year-old satellite operator with the 5th Signal Command hanged himself Feb. 7 in his Mannheim barracks. He used bedsheets and a stairwell to end his life, just after Criminal Investigation Command investigators had spent the morning questioning him for apparently impersonating an officer.

He had been claiming to be a captain and that he’d been shot in the leg in Iraq, pastors at a California church told CID after the pastors decided to check up on him.

That long-distance telephone call was to be the first thread in the rapid unraveling of Teetsell’s life.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52770